Post navigation

Father Christmas: A Musical Christmas Card

We have long considered creating an online musical Christmas card instead of sending paper cards and Christmas letters; this is the year that it happens. “Father Christmas” was composed from a dream that my husband had of his father. Bill handed me the text and music for the chorus, I completed the text and music for the verses and bridge and scored it for keyboards and percussion. Our friend Judy joined us to record it for the “Christmas at Duquesne, Vol. 2” CD. Now we would like to share the video version with our friends and families as our Christmas greeting this year. May the blessings of love and peace be with you throughout the coming year. Enjoy!

Father Christmas, Father Time Mother Earth in ancient rhyme Help the angels sing your name I’ll see you Father, once again

Christmas seen through childish eyes Glitter gold and treasures prized, and yet around each childish heart the warmth of love and family start

A world of sorrow, a world of pain, a world in which there seems no gain. But nonetheless, remember this, a world was won by a child of grace

Looking back on memories, I see the joy of family A father’s love, a mother’s joy for all their children, girl and boy

Fathers, mothers, listen now Sisters, brothers, make this vow to love each other on this earth and share the bonds of love and mirth

Lynn Emberg Purse, vocals and keyboards; Bill Purse, vocals and percussion, sound engineer and producer; Judith Bowman, keyboards. A special thanks to my niece and great niece Jessica and Olivia and to my mother and my husband for allowing me to film them, and to Michael for providing the red rose.

Soundtrack on the “Christmas at Duquesne, Vol. 2” CD available at the Duquesne University’s Mary Pappert School of Music, 412-396-6080. All proceeds go towards scholarships for Duquesne University music students.

35 thoughts on “Father Christmas: A Musical Christmas Card”

Just beautiful! I’m sooooo happy I found you through the “Portraits of Wildflowers” site and can follow you. Yay! I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing your gifts, and the generous ways you share them.

Catherine, thank you for visiting and for your kind comments. Steve has a great blog, doesn’t he? I took the time to visit your site as well and found it truly beautiful. Not only do you write well, you get to the heart of things. I am now following you, so thank you for introducing me to your lovely place! Have a beautiful Christmas.

Paula, many thanks for visiting and commenting, and a Merry Christmas to you too! I had great fun going through old family photos until I found the right images. The one of our fathers at our wedding was the last one I found and seemed just right, as it was taken on the day when they both became our fathers and they were both so happy. Making the video held its own rewards 🙂

Thanks, Rastelly! Hmmm, I do like Celtic music, both the traditional Chieftains and the modern style of Loreena McKennitt. This definitely has a modal medieval influence, but with a lot of shifting rhythms. My husband set the flavor of the piece and I expanded on it. 🙂 Looking back, I see this as the first of several subsequent pieces that have this sort of feel and construction with increasing complexity and variations. As I worked on the video, this started to become apparent to me; funny how you look on your work and can sometimes see something bigger, an overarching momentum. Doesn’t usually happen when you are in the moment :->

Loreena McKennit, she’s one of my
favorites. She and Enya. Enya’s album,
The Celts – has some of the most
extroidnary instermentals. Father
Christmas, reminds of an instermental
on the album called – “To go Beyond.”